Not Delicious Anymore!

Primordial Spirit Research Institute. Time flew, and in the blink of an eye, it was December 22nd. Over the past several days, aside from going out to disgust the members of the Single Divine Character Faction, Su Yu barely set foot outside, spending most of his time cultivating. Aperture fusion! Eighth-stage Wanshi! Eighteen days after breaking through to fifth-stage Wanshi, Su Yu had broken through three stages in succession to reach eighth-stage Wanshi, fusing 128 apertures. Those 128 fused apertures gave him explosive power comparable to 320 Qianjun apertures. Paired with his martial battle techniques, Su Yu's physical explosive force at this moment was equivalent to 400 apertures' worth of might. He had fierce explosive power and formidable endurance. Relatively speaking, his physical cultivation possessed virtually no shortcomings, having opened a total of 332 origin apertures. In terms of cultivation methods, relying solely on his physical cultivation, Su Yu could fight above his realm against warriors practicing top-tier Yellow-rank techniques, matching an eighth-stage Tengkong. Coupled with his willpower, Su Yu at this moment was on par with the weaker ninth-stage Tengkong cultivators. This was the power a genius was supposed to have! Opening so many apertures, consuming vast resources, and mastering powerful battle techniques—if he still couldn't surpass lower-tier cultivators despite all that, a genius wouldn't deserve to be called a genius. Inside the secret cultivation chamber. Su Yu opened his eyes, and a transmission talisman flickered. "Zhou went to see Sun!" A brief line of text. Su Yu's eyes flashed. Had Zhou received word and gone to see Sun Xiang, or was it just routine business? He didn't reply. After pondering for a while, Su Yu walked out of the chamber. The moment he entered the lounge, Wu Jia exclaimed loudly, "Junior Brother, you're out! Have you heard? Something happened in Nanyuan recently! The demons there went wild, and powerful wild demons are running rampant out in the wilderness. People in Nanyuan don't even dare step outside right now..." There were several others in the hall as well. Zheng Yunhui asked in surprise, "Nanyuan demons? Those wild beasts in the wilderness? Wild demons usually aren't that strong, and Yuan Qi isn't dense around Nanyuan. What's going on?" Wu Jia shook her head. "I don't know!" She really didn't know; she had only heard rumors. "Don't worry though, Junior Brother. No great demons are besieging the city." Su Yu nodded. Naturally, they wouldn't attack the city, nor did they have the courage or ability to do so, because powerful experts might currently be present in Nanyuan. Hu Zongqi and his group were merely stirring up trouble in the wilderness surrounding Nanyuan. The news had just been somewhat exaggerated. Back in Nanyuan, even the Xia family suspected they had ruins there, so how could there be zero movement? For great demons to lay siege to Nanyuan City would be suicide. The wilderness was just chaotic, and people in Nanyuan probably didn't dare venture out carelessly right now. Even so, Su Yu frowned and asked, "There's demon unrest in Nanyuan? Any casualties?" "No idea." Su Yu gave a slight nod. "Understood. I'll ask around later." Wu Jia quickly added, "Junior Brother, should we ask the academy to help clear out those demons? After all, Nanyuan is your hometown." Su Yu smiled. "No need for now. We still don't know the exact situation, and the Great Xia Prefecture should be handling it." "The Great Xia Prefecture..." Wu Jia said helplessly, "I heard from others that the Dragon Martial Guards went there a few times, wiped out some demons, and then left. But as soon as they left, more demons ran back. Unless the Dragon Martial Guards station troops there permanently, Nanyuan will stay blockaded!" Su Yu nodded. "I see. Nanyuan itself is too weak; there's nothing that can be done. It only has two Tengkong cultivators right now." With Liu Wenyan gone, the only remaining Tengkong experts were Dragon Martial Guard Decurion Xia Bing and Nanyuan City Lord Wu Wenhai. Two Tengkong cultivators. When Su Yu left, both were at second-stage Tengkong, and at most they might have reached third-stage Tengkong by now. Moreover, both were warriors. Even with several thousand city guards, dealing with those powerful wild demons was a struggle. Nanyuan was simply too weak. So weak that many people would rather open a few small mines in the outskirts of the Great Xia Prefecture to live as minor squires than go to Nanyuan. It was entirely because the Yuan Qi density there was too low. Cultivating in Nanyuan was terribly unfavorable for Tengkong cultivators; without purchasing vast amounts of Yuan Qi liquid, they couldn't even sustain their daily cultivation. If they couldn't even maintain regular practice, getting stronger was out of the question. At this moment, Su Yu shook his head. Strictly speaking, of the twenty-eight cities of the Great Xia Prefecture, it was more accurate to say there were only twenty-seven. Nanyuan was practically on the scale of a rural township. It had only been established as a city because it was situated in an isolated border region that held some geographic importance. In neighboring Tianshui City, even the deputy commander of the city guard was in the Tengkong Realm, and the city lord was at least in the Lingyun Realm. The two places were incomparable. As Su Yu was lost in thought, Zheng Yunhui looked over and asked curiously, "Su Yu, are there treasures in Nanyuan? If there aren't any treasures, why would great demons attack Nanyuan City? There's nothing to gain." Su Yu smiled. "I wouldn't know either." With that, he said, "Forget it, let me place a call and ask. Hopefully the line goes through. Nanyuan is my hometown after all, and my house is still there. I'll see if they need any help." "House..." Zheng Yunhui froze. A house? A tiny backwater like Nanyuan! Even if it were a luxury villa, could a house there be worth tens of millions? Could it be worth several hundred merit points? Almost certainly not! To think Su Yu was still fretting over a house in Nanyuan left Zheng Yunhui utterly speechless. Su Yu didn't bother replying. He took out his communication device, considered for a moment, and dialed Prefect Wang. After a patchy wait, the connection went through. "Who's this?" Hearing the old prefect's thick hometown accent, Su Yu felt a momentary wave of nostalgia, then quickly chuckled, "Prefect, it's me, Su Yu!" "Su Yu... Oh, it's you, boy! Ever since Old Liu stepped down, you haven't called back even once. I thought you'd forgotten the academy! Struck it rich and left us behind, did you?" The old prefect teased him, then let out a cough. "Little A'yu, Old Liu and the rest couldn't stir up any lasting waves, so don't you go causing trouble either. Stay safe, and listen to reason!" "Prefect..." Su Yu sighed softly. The old prefect mumbled, "Don't try to hide it from me. I'm the head of the Nanyuan Academy, after all. Even if ordinary folk haven't heard news from the Great Xia Prefecture, I can still make inquiries. You little rascal... you really have skill! You've really got guts! You've brought immense honor to us! A Tengkong expert... even the City Lord is no match for you now. At our last meeting, the City Lord even said that if you come back, he'd hand the seat of City Lord over to you..." "Prefect, you're joking." The old prefect chuckled warmly. "If you really came back, what would be wrong with you being City Lord! It'd be flattering that Wu Wenhai!" After joking, he urged again, "Young lad, if you have talent, then focus on your cultivation. Listen to me! You're young; as long as you outlive them, you win..." Su Yu couldn't help but laugh. "All right, I'll listen to you, Prefect! By the way, has Nanyuan been under attack by demons recently?" "Not attacked, exactly. It's just a bit of a nuisance. People can't leave the city. A bunch of wild demons are roaming outside, and the city guards have been clearing them out lately..." "Do you need my help?" Su Yu quickly added, "It's nothing difficult for me. If necessary, I can post a mission to get some classmates to help and earn some merit points along the way, or check if the Dragon Martial Guards and the prefectural army have posted any missions..." "You want to come back to help?" The old prefect pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked in local Nanyuan dialect, "Is there some trouble with you coming back?" Standing nearby, Zheng Yunhui and Wu Jia listened with baffled expressions, feeling exasperated. This local dialect was harder to understand than a foreign language. They might have understood it better had he spoken the tongues of the myriad races. "No," Su Yu chuckled. "I was just asking if you needed help, Prefect." He understood what the old prefect meant: the old man was asking whether returning would involve trouble or danger for him. Hearing Su Yu's response, the old prefect fell silent for a few seconds before laughing. "Fine. You're our big-shot prodigy from Nanyuan. How about this: I'll have the City Lord issue a mission and send it to your Civilization Academy. When you take it, you can earn some merit points, and it'll give you a chance to visit everyone and share some of your experience with the younger students..." "Sounds good, Prefect. I'll hang up now." "Mm." The old prefect acknowledged and ended the call. ... Nanyuan. Inside the Intermediate Academy's headmaster office. The old prefect stroked his beard, muttering incoherently to himself. *Old Liu, oh Old Liu, you ran off and left behind a massive mess.* Why did that boy Su Yu suddenly want to come back? He had heard the news: that kid was ruthless, having killed the top genius of the Single Divine Character Faction! Wouldn't they despise him to the bone? Running around at a time like this... The distance between the Great Xia Prefecture and Nanyuan was several thousand li, full of desolate wilderness fraught with perils. No matter how strong the Great Xia Prefecture was, it couldn't wipe out every threat in the wilderness. After turning it over in his mind, doubts arose. To be fair, as a local, this recent demon unrest felt unusual to him. He had gone outside once before; those demons looked more like they were running around in panic, and the situation wasn't actually that dire. Someone powerful might have disturbed their nests, and they would have dispersed on their own after a few days. Yet the news had spread with astonishing speed, reaching the Great Xia Prefecture so quickly. And Su Yu had specifically called to ask about it! Was such a minor matter worth that much concern? "Sigh!" With a deep sigh, the old prefect stopped overthinking. The kid wanted to return, or rather, wanted to use this opportunity as an excuse to return. He would go find Wu Wenhai and provide the boy with a pretext, claiming they desperately needed Su Yu's help. That ought to be enough. "Just like that bastard Old Liu, speaking in half-sentences... Good thing I'm clever and used to how you two master and disciple talk..." Prefect Wang praised himself. After forty years of interaction, he was intimately familiar with Liu Wenyan's way of speaking. The moment Su Yu brought it up, he guessed what was on the boy's mind. *Little guy, I just hope you don't stir up a catastrophe.* ... Back in the lounge. Su Yu put away his communication device and smiled. "It's nothing major. If worse comes to worst, I'll make a trip to resolve it." Before Zheng Yunhui could speak, Su Yu cut in, "Yunhui, help me purchase a batch of Yuan Qi liquid over the next couple of days. I can't be bothered to go to the secret grottos for cultivation lately, so get plenty—preferably Yuan Qi liquid condensed by Shanhai-realm experts. If you procure it, I'll license the Yuan-Purifying Art to your Zheng family in advance. How about it?" Zheng Yunhui was about to ask something else, but hearing this, he immediately threw his previous question out the window and eagerly asked, "How about a thousand drops? That should be enough! Even though Shanhai-condensed Yuan Qi liquid is still Yuan Qi liquid, its value is higher; altogether, that's worth five to six thousand merit points. You'll license the Yuan-Purifying Art to me early?" "Of course. Do you think I care about a minor cultivation art like that?" Zheng Yunhui was overjoyed. Excellent! He had finally secured it! Without another word, he sprang up. "Then I'll go gather the Yuan Qi liquid right away! You're rolling in wealth now, not even bothering to go to the secret realms and using Yuan Qi liquid to cultivate instead. How extravagant!" With those parting words, he sprinted off. Hu Qiusheng, who had just walked downstairs, caught the tail end of the conversation. He glanced at Su Yu, drew a light breath, and spoke up: "Su Yu, is there anything you need my help with?" Lately, Su Yu hadn't shown much interest in the research institute. He didn't care about deducing techniques to fuse divine apertures. He didn't care about the primordial spirit aperture. Even the equipment Zhao Ming had procured, which arrived only a few days ago, barely earned a glance from him before he walked away. It was as if Su Yu only cared about the Primordial Spirit Research Institute for the sake of the aperture fusion method. Hu Qiusheng saw it all and kept it in mind. Remembering what his grandfather had told him a few days ago, he felt a twinge of melancholy. Stepping down from the staircase, he repeated, "Su Yu, if there's anything you need help with, just say the word." Su Yu looked at him, smiled, and nodded. "Brother Hu is righteous, so I won't stand on ceremony. I won't take things from you for nothing either: the method to open thirty-six divine apertures for a basic cultural art in exchange for ten Lingyun-realm lethal talismans!" Hu Qiusheng's gaze shifted. "Can it be shared?" "No!" Su Yu replied calmly. "It's strictly for Brother Hu's personal cultivation. Otherwise, the price wouldn't be just ten Lingyun-realm lethal talismans!" "Deal!" Hu Qiusheng didn't press further. "I'll give them to you tomorrow. However, you don't possess Tengkong-level willpower; activating those talismans will be extremely difficult..." "Don't worry, I have it." He possessed Tengkong-level willpower! Granted, it wasn't that his sea of will was full enough to manifest physical form, but its quality was comparable to Tengkong, and not just the early stages. Ten talismans were quite valuable, but compared to a basic cultural art, even one restricted to personal use, he was making an enormous profit. Su Yu wasn't overly generous with Hu Qiusheng. His relationship with the Hu family was purely transactional, without deep personal ties. Yet Hu Qiusheng had contributed quite a bit to the Primordial Spirit Research Institute, and Su Yu disliked letting people suffer losses on his account. He repaid them tenfold! Hu Qiusheng said nothing more and departed directly. ... Having sorted out these sundry matters, Su Yu returned once again to the Wen Tan Research Center. After being left unattended for days, the place looked somewhat desolate. In the detention area. Su Yu directly unlocked several cages. The Suanni, the Mountain-Boring Ox, and the White Li were all surprised. He was setting them free just like that? They had thought they were completely forgotten! Su Yu hadn't visited much lately, though fortunately, he had left behind a fair amount of Yuan Qi liquid, proving far more generous than before. Stepping out of the cage, the Suanni felt a bit uneasy. It shook its massive head and stared at Su Yu. "Is Lord Su heading out?" "In a few days," Su Yu replied with a faint smile. "Suanni, you and the Mountain-Boring Ox will serve as my mounts, taking turns. It's dangerous outside, so don't run off." The Suanni eyed him with suspicion. "My Lord doesn't need to place any restrictions on me?" It walked the martial path and had no divine character that could be suppressed. He wasn't even going to put a demon suppression collar on it? Su Yu laughed. "No need. Too expensive!" The Suanni fell speechless, still feeling deeply uneasy. *He's letting me out just like that?* *Without any restrictions?* *Why does this make me feel so guilty!* Su Yu wasn't some kindhearted benefactor; he was utterly ruthless, having nearly starved them to death before. When he released the Water Person and the Shadow earlier, he had used all sorts of means to bind them. Was this contempt, or sheer arrogance? He was practically daring it to run if it wanted to! Su Yu didn't bother elaborating. He pulled a small stamp from his robes and gestured. "Stick your head over. If you don't want to be killed the moment you go outside, I need to stamp you. With this seal, you're a mount; without it, you'll be slain as a wild demon!" The Suanni felt awkward, but obediently lowered its head. Its gigantic maw hovered inches from Su Yu's head. It truly wished it could snap its jaws shut and bite him dead right then and there! Su Yu watched it with a half-smile and pressed the stamp down. The small seal left behind a divine character mark on its head—the signature emblem of a mount. "Thinking of taking a bite out of me?" "No!" the Suanni denied. "You're welcome to try. Don't let your ninth-stage Tengkong realm fool you. You've been imprisoned here for years; I reckon I could beat you to death with my bare hands. Believe me?" The Suanni didn't believe him. Last time Su Yu fought the old ox, it had seen everything; he only possessed the combat strength of a fourth- or fifth-stage Tengkong. It, on the other hand, was a ninth-stage Tengkong. And from one of the top hundred races, no less! Su Yu chuckled and let the matter drop. "Recover your Yuan Qi as fast as possible. Over the next few days, I'll supply you with some high-quality Yuan Qi liquid." He had to take these creatures with him. Whether they died on the road or accompanied him to the Great Ming Prefecture, they had to be brought along. Leaving them behind would only mean their deaths, which would be a waste. Hong Tan was in secluded cultivation, Chen Yong wouldn't bother with them, and Wu Jia didn't dare come here... If he left, no one would look after these beasts. As for rebellion... they were just a few Tengkong cultivators; if they rebelled, so be it. Without saying more, he stamped the Mountain-Boring Ox and the White Li as well, then turned his attention to the tiny fur ball inside the small cage. The little fur ball was watching him too. Their eyes met, and Su Yu smiled. "You want to devour my divine characters?" "Delicious!" "Delicious?" Su Yu chuckled. "Are you sure?" The little creature was probably eyeing his golden handbook. It certainly didn't lack courage. "Little fellow, how about this: I'll hit you with ten hammer strikes, and you can take one bite of me. What do you say? I'm only in the Character Nurturing Realm, while you're in the Tengkong Realm." The little fur ball rolled its two eyes. Ten hammer strikes for one bite? That sounded pretty good! "Okay!" Su Yu smiled. He wanted to test whether this creature could be handled with the Mind Expansion Hammer. If it couldn't, meaning it couldn't be controlled, he would leave it to his martial uncle. But if he could keep it in check, bringing it along would make it a trump card. A small hammer materialized in his hand. Su Yu opened the cage, and the little fur ball flew out cautiously. "Don't think about fleeing. I have two Lingyun-realm experts on my side, and you won't make it out of this research institute anyway, understood?" The little fur ball hovered faintly in midair, flickering between visible and invisible, and squeaked, "Won't run... Delicious!" Su Yu grinned, raised the hammer, and said, "Then I'm going to strike now?" "All right!" *Boom!* The moment it replied, Su Yu brought the hammer down. The little fur ball watched with round, rolling eyes, not particularly worried. It existed in a semi-manifested state, generally immune to Yuan Qi attacks. It was very similar to an actual divine character. Yet something felt off. Just as that thought crossed its mind—*boom!* The semi-transparent little fur ball was blasted straight out of its special state, its true physical body knocked into reality. Its eyes spun dizzily! Not out of scheme, but because it had been hammered into a stupor. Su Yu paid it no heed and hammered downward repeatedly! *Bang! Bang! Bang!* After striking seven or eight times in rapid succession, he looked down to see the little fur ball completely knocked out, crashing to the ground with a dull thud. "..." All around, the Mountain-Boring Ox and the Suanni were still relatively composed, but the White Li, who cultivated the path of divine characters, shrank its neck and curled into a corner, trembling in terror! That hammer... was actually a special divine technique! What terrifying concussive force! The Expanding Will Art was originally designed to concuss and compress the sea of will. Every strike compressed the sea of will and willpower. Unless someone endured it regularly, being struck for the first time was utterly unbearable. Without hesitation, Su Yu stepped forward, picked up the unconscious fur ball, rolled it in his palm, and grinned. Knocked out cold! It seemed its tolerance had limits after all. The Mind Expansion Hammer was no ordinary divine character. He squeezed the little fur ball, and its eyes fluttered. It woke up faster than Su Yu had anticipated. Upon waking, the little fur ball's voice sounded astonished: "So powerful! Can you smash me every day?" "..." The great demons were rendered speechless. Su Yu was surprised as well. "You felt it?" "Yes!" the little fur ball cheered happily. "The more you hit me, the stronger I get!" Su Yu nodded. That was true. The Expanding Will Art was fundamentally meant to benefit cultivators, not kill them—though its lethality was top-notch when applied that way. The fact that the little fur ball was largely unharmed proved that its willpower was inherently robust. An ordinary Tengkong struck seven or eight times by his hammer wouldn't wake so quickly; if their willpower lacked resilience, having their sea of will shattered directly would be normal. *It's a bit tough to suppress!* Su Yu thought. Restraining this little thing seemed somewhat difficult. With that in mind, Su Yu summoned his cultural weapon. The next instant, an ethereal saber took shape. The little fur ball's eyes lit up! Su Yu ignored it. This was his divine character battle technique—merely a phantom outline, not yet fully forged, but containing all eight of his divine characters. The phantom saber merged into the cultural weapon in a flash. The battle technique, encompassing eight divine characters, fused into the cultural saber. Su Yu looked at the little fur ball. "I'll let you take a bite. The 'delicious' thing you mentioned isn't this, is it?" "No..." It stared at Su Yu; that wasn't it. "Take a bite of this first and see!" He wanted to test whether this creature could bite through a battle technique composed of eight Tier-2 divine characters. Eight Tier-2 characters combined with a cultural weapon and a battle technique structure had to be at least equivalent to a Tier-3 divine character, right? The little fur ball didn't hesitate, snapping its mouth straight at the cultural saber! *Crunch!* The cultural weapon itself was unharmed, but the divine character battle technique fused within trembled violently, sending a sharp jolt through Su Yu's willpower that produced intense pain! *Damn it!* This creature didn't harm the cultural weapon at all; it bit directly into the divine character battle technique! At that moment, the framework of Su Yu's battle technique vibrated continuously, dispersing the little fur ball's force, taking quite a while to dissipate the piercing pressure. Su Yu grabbed the little fur ball and tossed it aside. "One bite is enough!" The little fur ball looked at Su Yu, and Su Yu stared back. After a moment, he said, "You could probably bite off a Tier-2 divine character in one chomp, but the pain is too sharp. Didn't Grandmaster say you can devour things silently?" Such intense pain would instantly alert a target, making sneak attacks far less effective. "That's devouring... this was biting!" the little fur ball protested aggrievedly. *You said to take a bite.* "Then try devouring..." The moment the words left his mouth, the little fur ball vanished. Su Yu hastily swept his willpower around. The creature hadn't turned invisible; rather, it was an innate racial talent that allowed it to shift between physical manifestation and formlessness, much like a divine character. The next instant, the little fur ball reappeared. Su Yu inspected his divine character battle technique. Nothing had changed, and not a single character was missing. The little fur ball blinked. "Devoured!" "Bullshit!" Su Yu cursed. It was a fraud; it hadn't devoured a damn thing! Just as he cursed, the White Li beside them suddenly let out a piercing shriek! A shriek of pure hysteria! "Where is my 'Escape' divine character?!" "..." Su Yu: "..." Total silence! The little fur ball swiftly scampered behind Su Yu, whispering in an innocent, childish voice, "Yours are all tied together; I couldn't devour them. I'm still small and weak, but its was easy to swallow..." Not far away, the White Li was on the verge of madness! It had just been standing by enjoying the show! It had been watching Su Yu and the little fur ball perform! Then it felt its willpower vibrate slightly, as if something were trying to bore into its head, before it could even react... By the time Su Yu spoke and the little fur ball reappeared, it took a look inside—*fuck, a divine character was gone!* At this moment, the White Li went completely hysterical! *Where is my divine character?!* "Give it back!" it screamed, stripped of all its usual allure and innocence, leaving only frantic fury! *My divine character!* There hadn't even been any pain! Su Yu was somewhat stunned as well. He glanced back at the little fur ball cowering behind him. *Holy crap!* *You actually ate it?* *Just like that?* Indeed, the White Li hadn't felt much of anything—just a faint sensation when something first drilled into its sea of will. If it hadn't felt a slight anomaly and checked, it might not have realized a character was missing at all! "Delicious person, you told me to devour..." the little fur ball argued, shifting the blame. Su Yu was speechless. *I told you to try devouring mine, not the White Li's... Well, what's eaten is eaten.* "Can you spit it back out after devouring it?" "Ate it!" "..." "Ahhh!" the White Li shrieked. It was eaten! One of its divine characters had been eaten! Su Yu picked at his ear and snapped, "It wasn't even your primary divine character, what are you screaming for? It's just a Tier-2 divine character; you can make up for it in a month or so!" All the great demons: "..." *A month or so, your ass!* A Tier-2 divine character! Even for the White Li at the Tengkong Realm, without six months to a year, it could forget about outlining another Tier-2 divine character. A divine character first had to be outlined, completed, grown into Tier 1, and then nurtured into Tier 2. Could that be recouped without a year or two? Yet, remembering that Su Yu had cultivated for only a few months and already possessed eight Tier-2 divine characters, the great demons fell silent. They couldn't compare themselves to him! To Su Yu, it really might take less than a month. Su Yu looked at the little fur ball with a strange expression. "Can you devour Lingyun-level ones?" "Like that one..." He pointed toward the shadow beneath his feet. The shadow quivered slightly. An instant later, it surged, and the little fur ball, which had been hiding behind Su Yu, was flung out. It squeaked dejectedly, "Can't. Its sea of will has too strong a defense; it shook me out..." The Shadow's voice drifted up, eerie and laced with lingering dread: "My Lord, its talent is far too terrifying. I didn't even notice it. If it hadn't tried to squeeze into my sea of will, I wouldn't have sensed its presence at all. Once this creature reaches the Lingyun Realm, it will be the natural nemesis of same-realm Civilization Masters. A race like this... I have never heard of it before!" Su Yu nodded. He had never heard of it either. There were no records! Hong Tan had captured this little fur ball, and there was no telling if a second one even existed across the All-Heavens Battlefield. Su Yu found himself in a dilemma: it was too dangerous! If he carried this thing on him, wouldn't he have to stay on guard every single day to keep his own divine characters from being eaten? Still, his Mind Expansion Hammer could smash it into solid form and knock it out of a sea of will. With that thought, Su Yu suddenly said, "Try breaking into my sea of will..." The moment he finished speaking, he felt something burrowing toward his sea of will. Just like the very first time he saw it, the little fur ball seemed to have wanted to eat him all along! Yet the moment it was about to breach his sea of will, just as Su Yu was preparing to drive it out with the small hammer—*boom!* Inside his sea of will, the perpetually motionless golden handbook seemed to sense an intruder and unleashed a burst of golden radiance! *Bang!* The little fur ball materialized, slammed into the wall, and slid down in a daze, whimpering, "Not delicious anymore!" Su Yu laughed! Fascinating! When this creature invaded his sea of will, the handbook had actually retaliated—the first time it had ever done so. No, the second time! The first time was when he tried outlining a divine character battle technique, and the technique's template was shattered directly upon entry! Wait, the third time. The second time had been when he tried to outline divine characters of the myriad races and had them shattered. "Rejection!" Su Yu smiled. The golden handbook rejected certain foreign entities. His sea of will wasn't accessible to just anyone; anything unfavorable to him was cast out. The small hammer, his cultural weapon, human divine characters... none of those had triggered a backlash. "Quite interesting!" Looking back at the little fur ball, Su Yu beamed brightly. Since it posed no threat to him, it wasn't dangerous at all—in fact, it would make an exceptional weapon against others. Devouring divine characters... truly formidable. The White Li was still in the middle of a mental breakdown over its lost character.